Please help a complete novice!’

[Chelsdean87]

Hi all

i have some new raised beds in my garden - currently they’re filled with top soil and I have an idea of what I’d like to plant but have no idea where to start.

i’d like a combination of hydrangeas, buxus, salix flamingo trees and possibly allium.

is it actually feasible to grow these things together in the same kind of soil? Our garden landscapers just advised buying any organic soil - does that sound right?

If that is right, VERY basic (embarrassing) question but what do I actually do to plant them? How deep should the soil be?

TIA

The best site for questions about soil type and planting depths is RHS. All the things you have mentioned can go in a good garden compost and are relatively easy to grow.

I have things in my garden which are not usually put together but they seem to thrive. If you top dress your plants with peat free compost after planting they will be fine. Just remember that new plants require more water until they are established. Hydrangeas are very thirsty plants.

I think of raised beds as being good for veg and small plants like bedding. I would put box and trees in a regular (ground level) bed, not a raised bed if I had the option.

Also, the soil in your raised beds will sink over the next few years. I filled a big raised bed to the brim 3 years ago and the soil has compacted to half the height so I need to top it up again.

if you are new to gardening, I'd start with some easy things. head to a garden centre and get lavender / rosemary / any pretty flowers in small pots. Place pots on raised bed to get a nice arrangement. Then for each pot, dig a hole the size of the pot, gently ease plant out of pot & place in hole. Make sure that the level of the garden earth matches the level of the earth in the pot, so the plant is not deeper or shallower than it was before. Then fill any cracks with extra soil and water lots.

Put in those cheap & easy things and then wait a year and see how you get on. The buxus and trees are must more expensive investments so you want to be confident before you spend £200 on plants that might be in the wrong place or might die. The trees at least would need to be properly staked and braced to manage in the loose soil of a new raised bed.

Buxus never lasts very long, it catches a disease called box blight and dies. I’d recommend privet if you want that sort of look, it’s more likely to survive.

Best to do about 3 of each grouped together rather than a bit of this and a bit of that.Some at the back some in front and a few trailing down over the low front. Leave space to allow them to spread but you can fill those spaces with bulbs or annuals for the meantime. It's fun and you will grow to love it.

Thanks everyone - this advice is very much appreciated.

I’m hoping I will grow to love gardening!

When you plant, dig a hole as big as the pot the plant is in. If the soil is very hard then I usually dig a bit bigger to loosen the soil up. Then you can take the plant out of the pot, rough up the roots a little bit to encourage growth and then pop it into the hole with the top of soil level with here it was in the pot and put the soil back round it. Then give it a good water. Half a watering can full.

Check anything you have planted once a week for a month or so to check it is doing ok and doesn't need any water.

I agree about avoiding buxus. They are not a good thing to buy nowdays. Aliums need plenty of sun and hydrangeas need some shade and lots of water so they might not be happy next to each other. How much sun do your beds get?

If you're not sure whether you're going to love gardening, why not start with some pretty annuals, or some nice veg? Lettuce and herbs will grow nicely in a raised container, and you can get some very pretty versions of veg which are decorative and edible.

Nothing worse than putting in a lot of expensive shrubs and finding that you hate gardening more than you thought you would and can't be bothered with the watering, feeding, snail picking etc and ending up with a lot of dried out tufts.

I have only been gardening for a year and it is so overwhelming at first. The best thing u can do is first look at where the sun lands. No point in planting hydrangeas in a place that gets full sun all afternoon.

I spent the first year watching you tube videos ( garden answer is a good channel even if it’s not in this country ) and I spent hours and hours walking round the garden centres at different points in the year. Seeing what there is and when it comes out.

Sorry. Missed out words and pressed send to quick.

watch ur garden. And note where the sun lands during the day. I did that first. Then have a look at some plants and see what u like. I knew I wanted lavender in my garden. So I figured out where the hottest part of the garden was for most of the day and planted it there.

honestly. The best thing I did was wonder round the garden centres. Find a family owned one like I did. The people that worked at the one I went to were amazing. I went armed with photos and information on the garden and they helped me choose and told me what to do.

soon u will be growing your own seeds. I did that this year and loved it.